


Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and smoke

by Bacner



Series: A better universe. [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Coulson takes charge, F/M, Fitz's experiments, Friendship, Gen, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Skye's P.O.V., Wakanda, breaking the ice in relationships, real S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Cinematic Universe), relationships, smell of smoke, smoke, smoke imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: As S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to recover, Skye is full of doubts. And what is Fitz up to?
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Melinda May/Phil Coulson, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward
Series: A better universe. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678087
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: all characters are owned by Marvel.

…Sometimes, the way that things were going, Skye would look in the mirror and wonder: when will my reflection show, who I am inside? Alternatively, to be less poetic – what will her long-lost parents say about her stunt in S.H.I.E.L.D. when she finds them?

…To be less vague, today was one of the better days for Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. – a group of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, lost – or rather separated from the rest - in the Hydra uprising, now establishing contact with them – or rather with DC – and they were sounding friendly, and maybe even – hopefully optimistic; the point is that they were coming here, and the rest of Coulson’s team treated this as some sort of a big breakthrough; Skye couldn’t. Rather, she was reminded of their stint at the Hub and of Victoria Hand, back when she realized properly for the first time, just how much of a fish out of water she was. S.H.I.E.L.D., especially the original Fury’s version, was an entire club that she wasn’t privy to, with all of its’ history, and secret handshakes, and official-unofficial hierarchy, and… a lot of other things that possibly had been discussed in all of those booklets and brochures that Grant gave her when he became her S.O. for the first time and she had kind of disregarded. Now she somewhat regretted doing this, but-

“Hey, are you okay?” and speaking of the S.O., Grant Ward was here, looking as he usually did, save that he was smoking, literally, and not with a cigarette. “Did you also get caught in one of Fitz’s experiments?”

“No, and no,” Skye exhaled. “Robot, do you have a feeling that everything that we got here is just shadows and smoke, liable to disappear as soon as the sun comes out or something… and now I sound like some classical bint, pardon my English…”

“Yes, I remember, the orphanage,” Grant nodded sagely. “Was it really this bad?”

“It wasn’t my home, it wasn’t me, it was trying to be my home, trying to remake me into someone else, someone who I didn’t want to be,” Skye snapped. “And yes, I realize the irony-“

“Good, now what are you going to do with this realization-?”

Skye froze and gave Grant one of her trademark stares that did not affect him at all. “I’m trying to have a moment here-“

“And I understand it, but the thing is, as I have told you several times in the past, and you out-right have ignored it, so I tell you once more: unlike Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. actually has a goal and a purpose – to collect all of the world’s unwanted, all of its’ unloved, and give them a purpose: to protect Earth from all sorts of threats. It will give you a family, but on its’ terms, and if you have a problem with that – then you have a problem.”

“…Except I’m going to have a family – eventually,” Skye snapped.

Grant gave her a pointed look. “Well, obviously – Coulson isn’t Fury, he isn’t against interactions-“

“…I was talking about finding my parents, actually,” Skye flushed red. “My real parents-“

“My family, for example, are professional Republican politicians, who are no friends of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Grant shrugged, apparently unaffected by Skye’s flush – from her cheeks down to her breasts and beyond – “so what’s to say that yours aren’t? Even in the old days, when S.H.I.E.L.D. was working with the WSC, entire countries were against it – Israel, Japan, Wakanda, and beyond. I am not specifying what kind of problem you will have, I am just telling to you in generic terms that if you’ll have a problem with S.H.I.E.L.D., then you will have a problem.”

“Asshole,” Skye said bitterly. “Here I am, asking you for a pep talk-“

“You will do marvelously, they may not like you straightaway, but eventually they will-“

Skye emitted a growl and tackled him. Well, tried to, since he refused to flinch, and Skye could not bring him down on her own for all sorts of reason. Consequently, she ended up grabbing his waistline with both hands, and huffing and puffing, tried to make him move in a direction that she wanted. It was not really working.

“You done?” Grant looked down at her. “I need to talk to director Coulson-“

“Talk to me about what?” the man in question asked.

Skye – her cheeks red with humiliation now – jumped away from Grant, and off to a side. To make matters even more humiliation for her, Coulson was not alone, but with several other people, some of whom were outright strangers to Skye – must be the new agents…

“You!” the leader of the newcomers – a tall and powerfully built dark haired woman, who had, unfortunately, gone to seed in her later years, told Ward. “What are you doing here? What is he doing here?” she asked Coulson with some vaguely European accent. “He isn’t one of us! Victoria Hand trusted him-“

“One thing at a time,” Coulson said quickly. “Ward, what-“

“Agents Fitz and Mackenzie tried to make a new invention and created some sort of a rift. Some sort of an incorporeal monster came through-“

“What-?” Coulson blinked, but Skye was already on it, together with her trusty tablet. “Here, sir, Fitz’s current lab-“

So far, there were not any monsters in it, incorporeal or not, just Fitz and some other man, another one of the newcomers, Skye guessed. The lab itself was a mess, the duo themselves – hardly better.

“Oh, hey, Skye, how’s Tripp? And Ward?” Fitz asked brightly, as he spat a small spurt of water from his nose and mouth.

“Tripp is fine, just in the medical bay,” Ward replied instead.

“Where’s the monster?” Skye could not help but to add.

“Eh, we figured out that it was made of air and fire – in a manner of speaking and activated the sprinklers, which chased it back through the reality rift from which it had come through,” Leo replied brightly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll need to clean up,” and he cut the connection.

“That’s nice,” the newcomers’ leader – the already-mentioned dark haired woman said sourly. (Actually, everything about her made May look peaceful and serene, if not properly cheerful). “No wonder you’re using him,” she thrust at Ward. “The rest of your crew is barely better. This is what Fury was working against-“

“Yes,” Coulson agreed, startling his interlocutrix into silence. “No, maybe.”

“Excuse me?” the woman blinked.

“Agent Hartley,” Coulson spoke, shifting into a proper, full-on director mode. “You aren’t wrong when you’re criticizing what is going on here – it isn’t appropriate, it isn’t what Fury wanted, and it probably isn’t what Stark got going-on at his place. We are just – doing the best we can to deal with one threat at a time – right now, it’s Hydra, and tomorrow it can be something else. Fair enough, and the truth is that we are understaffed and will be overwhelmed very soon. Consequently, we need help, and this is why you’re here – to help, aren’t you?” he shot the woman – agent Hartley – a look. “Because we really need to put the old fractures and factions aside and start anew!”

“You bring some good points,” agent Hartley admitted. “Can I and my people think on it? Also, we need to check to agent Mackenzie and see what the incorporeal monster did to him-“

“I’ll show you,” Melinda, who kept herself more quietly than how she usually did, spoke up, startling Skye. “Follow me!” and they were gone.

“Well, I think I shall leave too, to check on Fitz,” Skye said brightly. “DC-“

“Skye, are you okay?” Coulson asked, sounding authentically concerned now. “You don’t look or sound like your usual self-“

“I’m just overwhelmed by all of today’s excitement,” Skye said brightly and left quickly.

Coulson sighed and looked at Ward. The younger man sighed. “She’s telling the truth,” he told Coulson with some reluctance. 

Coulson just sighed once more, heavily.

End


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone continues to interact and ice is broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: see previous chapter.

“Well, this isn’t going to plan,” Izzy muttered to Idaho as they and Lance Hunter relaxed in the quarters that Coulson and May have assigned to them in the HQ. Contrary to their expectations, Coulson and his team were good people, even if slightly crazy, and certainly not Hydra material, with one or two possible exceptions, cough.

“Are you talking about Lance or in more general strokes?” Idaho asked his best friend and team leader.

Izzy blinked. This was what was worrying her, if truth to be told – Lance Hunter was atypically quiet. Usually, he was never shy to speak-out, (especially if his ex was involved somehow), but right now he was in a much more contemplative mood, and this was worrisome. Whatever Izzy and the others would be doing here, they did not need Lance to do something drastic and stupid, for all sorts of reasons, (including the fact that he was one of their oldest friends, cough).

“Hey!” the Englishman called out, startling the other two, in fact – they were that distracted. “I’m right here, you know!”

“We know,” Izzy said carefully, “it’s just that you’ve been kind of quiet right now – the same sort of quiet whenever Bobbi would come up-“

“That because she did, sort of,” Lance said with his trademark bitterness. “Even when she isn’t around, she is always able to remind me of her existence. But today, though, this was good – I was able to make up her mind about her after all.”

Izzy and Idaho exchanged looks. Whenever things came to Lance’s ex – or not so ex, opinions differed – wife, all bets were off, except for the fact that sooner or late Lance would blow-up as a volcano and become all unpredictable, but! Izzy and Idaho knew Lance the longest of all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, (Bobbi herself didn’t count), and right now both of them could safely say that Lance wasn’t acting his regular self with Bobbi in the equation; he was actually behaving similar enough to it, but not quite; this meant that something serious was going on inside Lance’s head...

“Lance, buddy, are you okay?” Idaho asked, genuinely concerned for their junior partner and friend. “You’re not quite scaring us-“

“Sorry about that,” Lance exhaled, “I’m not quite scaring myself. It is just that Bobbi is a bigger hellbeast than even I have thought-“

“If this is about the possibility of Ward being the actual father of her child-“

“No, it’s not,” Lance shook his head. “I’ve seen him right now, and he doesn’t look anything like Mason. Bobbi lied-“

There was a knock on the door.

“Yes?” Izzy opened the door. Agent Mack, (well, Mackenzie, really), stood there with a food tray – enough for everyone.

“Are we still doing the conspiracy bit?” he asked crossly.

“Not sure,” Izzy agreed, as she led their friend inside. “Lance is kind of acting all weird-“

“I’m British,” the man in question snapped. “Hey, roasted duck! Smells good!”

“Yeah, they all take turns in the kitchen and so on, they’re good people, but understaffed,” Mack rumbled. “Again, are you sure that we need to do the conspiracy bit? We do not have many people ourselves-“

“No,” Izzy muttered, “It was all so straightforward in theory! But now… I really need to talk to Robert and the others. Lord, what a mess!”

“Speaking of messes,” Lance reluctantly put his dinner down, “want to go to the mess hall, or the dining hall, or whatever they’re calling it here? It might be a good move for team spirit.”

The senior agents exchanged a look between each other.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Idaho agreed. “People?”

/ / /

…Grant Ward was typically quiet by his standards, as he was eating his share of a meal, (right now, all of S.H.I.E.L.D. was kind of economizing on food and etc., by the old S.H.I.E.L.D.’s standards at least), and thinking about something.

“So, who are you thinking about?” Skye decided to probe the big man, because she was Skye and he was Grant. That was enough. 

“A lot of people,” Grant replied, though he sounded less morose and more genuinely thoughtful. “So. That was Lance Hunter.”

“Yeah. You know him?”

“Only by hearsay,” Grant looked away from Skye – and got eye contact with Melinda. Tripp was nearby; so were the others, including Coulson, actually. “Okay, you remember the Wakanda op? It was five or so years before the Bus-“

“Only by hearsay – I was done with field ops by this time. Coulson?” Melinda switched her attention to their leader with some genuine interest.

“I remember it,” S.H.I.E.L.D.’s old-field director grew thoughtful. “It was one of our bigger field operations, one where the WSC wasn’t involved. Wakanda developed some sort of civil unrest – of its’ chiefs, a man named Mandla, rose in revolt against the old king, T’Chaka, because of political disagreement. For various political reasons T’Chaka and S.H.I.E.L.D. were involved-“

“Yeah, and that was some Conan the barbarian level insanity!” One of the newcomers, a big Af-ro-American called Mack, spoke really loudly, as he and the others came in. “I mean – sacred beasts, magical plants, all sorts of crazy bits!”

“But now Wakanda is going to join the rest of the world-“ May said quietly.

“Yeah, well, the king T’Chaka is something else entirely,” Mack was not convinced. “Tried to suborn some of us, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, to become agents of his country. The nerve! …Anyways, any particular reason as to why this come up?” he asked, sounding outright friendly by now, having remembered plenty of conversations back in the old S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Basically, it’s about Morse and Lance Hunter over here,” Ward replied. “Back then, I met agent Kara Palamas, who had a lot to tell about Morse, and Hunter-“

“I wonder what,” the man in question spoke with more sharpness than how he had intended to.

“Apparently you have a magical penis-?”

There was a pause. “Yes, okay, this agent Palamas must’ve known me and Bob,” Lance broke the silence. “Any chance-“

“Last time I heard of her, she was one of several agents in one of our safe houses that got captured by Hydra,” Coulson said, sounding genuinely sad. “I don’t know if she’s dead or not-“

Silence fell once more. “Well, that’s that,” Grant said quietly. “A toast in her memory, maybe?”

“…I have a mole in Hydra,” Coulson drummed his fingers as silence threatened to remain here because of the obvious. “Maybe we’ll learn something about agent Palamas first before we write her off?”

“Good idea,” Izzy said brightly. “We’ll hold you up to that!”

Silence turned back from sad to awkward. “New topic?” Tripp launched a suggestion. 

And everyone agreed.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The discussions slash negotiations continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Marvel still owns everyone.

…Skye was exhausted. Today was the longest day ever, and that given that she had seen many exciting but deadly situations lately, yet this one, supposedly a completely friendly contact, was perhaps the most draining on her body and soul. What was she doing here, again? She got involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. only to find her parents, but now she was involved in anything but doing that, and so was everyone else, including DC. For some reason that she could not fathom, it hurt.

Speaking of DC… Skye looked around. Fitz was actually still missing, and so was Tripp. One of the newcomers – agent Mackenzie – had hurriedly left too. Was something going on? Well, other than Fitz supposedly breaking through the dimensions with one of his inventions…

“So, before we get back to business, any ideas as to how you’ll try to find agent Palamas in Hydra?” agent Hartley asked, her old skepticism returning.

“As I said before, I got a mole close to one of Hydra heads, and tell her to look out for her,” Coulson did not seem to be offended – yet.

“And can you trust him?” Hartley pointed to Ward…who didn’t seem to be offended either, actually.

“We do not trust him blindly, but we do trust him,” Melinda replied instead.

“Victoria Hand trusted him-“

“Victoria Hand is a hellbeast with skin as tough as teak wood and flesh even tougher,” Ward spoke up evenly.

“…You know, when Hunter says that about his ex, it’s annoying, but-“

“But nothing,” Hunter snapped with sudden, odd emotion in his voice. “Morse is a hellbeast – an alien one, not a metaphorical one. Her S.O. is another one, but only a worse one.”

“Please don’t egg each other on,” Hartley snapped, before turning her attention to Coulson. “I don’t know about your man, but Hunter? Please try to understand – Morse is a good agent, but somehow she constantly tangles her personal with her professional, and Hunter here got the worst of it.”

“Excuse me,” Hunter got onto his feet. “Izzy, Idaho, can I talk to both of you? You were worried that I was acting out of character, so here I am, acting ‘in character-“

“Excuse us,” Izzy groaned. “Hunter, I’m sorry; Idaho, you’re up. I and Lance need to talk in private and they were gone.”

Everyone else stared at Ward. “Agent Hand is really an alien?”

“Yes,” Ward shrugged.

“What do you mean, ‘is’? Isn’t she dead?” Skye could not help but to ask. “Ergo, the past tense?” she added with more restraint.

“No, but she has retired to Australia, at least for a while. Got a mammoth scar on her temple, is more angry than all witches of Hell, but certainly is alive,” Idaho drummed his fingers. “Isn’t a big fan of anyone here, FYI-“

“T-1000,” Skye sighed as she petted Grant on one of his shoulders. “You just don’t get it, do you? Most humans are less tough than you are-“

“Poots,” Grant sighed. “Let’s go and check on Fitz, Tripp and the others. Hopefully, they didn’t bring another extradimensional smoke monster into the base…” and the two of them left.

“Is he-?” Idaho asked, uncertain.

“Probably not,” Melinda admitted, “but mentally? He was messed up, or rather is messed up. None of us is certain just how he perceives the world, though a better picture is coming up. And he is being honest to us regarding Hydra – we checked.”

“Good,” Idaho exhaled. “So, what is the plan regarding Hydra? And everything else?”

“…As you have noticed, we’re understaffed,” Coulson exhaled, “so thus far we don’t have much in terms of a big break. We got a mole in Hydra, we are beginning to get reliable and stable information, and Skye, whom you have met, was able to hack into their computer systems, so we are not being in the dark here at all. I know that it is not much, but it is something, and we do need to sort out our own home too, as a matter of speaking. You?”

“Us?” Idaho blinked, only partially pretending – there was a reason as to why Izzy was the leader here.

“Yes you,” Coulson gave the younger man an exasperated look. “How are you people holding up?”

“Lousy,” Idaho – after an inner struggle – decided to speak the truth, and what be will be. Que cera – cera. “We have secured the Iliad, but nothing more, and aren’t entirely sure where to go from here.”

“The Iliad?” Melinda blinked as she turned to Coulson.

“That was the flagship of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s navy,” Coulson began thoughtfully, but was interrupted by Skye, who had come back, alongside others, (including agent Izzy, apparently):

“S.H.I.E.L.D. had its’ own navy?” she exclaimed almost with a lisp of accent that made her sound odd. Judging by Hartley’s reaction, Coulson was not the only one.

“Kid, in older times I would pay you good money not to ever use this voice again to say any-thing,” the older woman groaned, “but times are different now, in a bad way, so what if I ask you politely instead?”

“Fine, but only because we had to fight the latest monster that came through Fitz’s and Mack’s breach,” Skye confessed, as she shook her head, raising a small cloud of ash into the air. Actual-, she was not the only one either. “And it was less of a smoke and more of a magma one-“

“Fitz! Mack! What latest magma monster?” Coulson all but yowled.

_TBC_


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson and Gonzales talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: see previous chapters.

Robert Gonzales stared at Coulson. Coulson stared back.

“I didn’t expect this to happen so soon,” the bespectacled man admitted. “Rumors had it that you’ve lost your shit and everything.”

“Yes, well, not that far done yet,” Coulson’s smile did not have as much humor as it usually had. “Plus I got friends to keep me afloat and all. How about you? How are you holding up?”

“Not much better than you, though is it only because of numbers or not I cannot say,” Gonzales did not back down…before hesitating and admitting: “But you are working on something, I admit. Not sure how much it will work, but…”

“Yeah, I know,” Coulson deflated some himself. “That said, that is the only choice – we do need to survive, if only for ourselves.”

“Oh-?”

“Yes, way too many of our people have gone to FBI, CIA, or the like,” Coulson looked away. “Maybe they made the better choice, I don’t know, but we feel that the world still needs S.H.I.E.L.D. and all that it stands for.”

“All of you?” Gonzales raised an eyebrow. 

Coulson did not back down. “You want to be more specific?” he asked instead. “And Victoria Hand is alive – your own man Idaho said so-“

“I know, and I don’t trust Victoria – I don’t know if she’s an alien or not, I don’t care,” Gonzales snapped, “but she seemed to have most of the knowledge and most of confidence, and she had a plan, and- and you appear to be launching it, with or without caveats,” he finished, exhaling heavily. “Don’t appear to be doing too bad a job of it either, I must admit”.

(Coulson did not admit it, but he felt some relief at those words for all sorts of reasons, cough).

“Right,” was what he said instead. “And agent Morse?”

“I don’t know about her too much, but she was, or is, a seduction specialist on top of everything else. So was Hand for that matter, but she actually lives up to her hype. Any chance you could make peace with her?”

“Will do our best,” Coulson nodded and looked through one of the Iliad’s windows. Outside, it was spring. A slight breeze was blowing, but the weather was warm, though clouds were coming from northeast in the southwest direction, but the sky was still sunny enough. The waves were slight; the sea was blue, save for the white wavy foam on the small waves.

“Nice view you got here,” he admitted, “much better than mine. Remind me, why do you want my job-?”

“I don’t – this was never about your job,” Gonzales muttered. “More about assessing your com-petence as a director-“

“That’s a bit early to tell-“

“Fury-“

Coulson looked away. “I’ve sent feelers to Maria Hill, but so far, nothing concrete. Why do you want to be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.?” he asked suddenly. “Most of my people, no matter how different they are from each other, want to be a part of it because they don’t really imagine a better life outside of it, they belong there. Those that do not, have left. You?”

“Don’t know if I can function outside of it or cannot,” the other man replied, “but, darn it, I can-not retire! Not with Hydra and everything else out there! I know it sounds ridiculous-“

“Yes, but we all sound ridiculous,” Coulson shrugged. “Those, who are sensible, have gone to other places – to Stark’s and all of D.C.’s alphabet soup, for example. Those, who are left is all we have, for now. Others will come, I am certain, but for now…”

“You’re a dreamer, you know that?” Gonzales’ askance look at the other man was hard to read. Coulson did not care.

“Yes, well, maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. needs it,” he said flatly. “Until Fury comes back and takes over, anyhow! Of course, given how our agents began to invent devices that break through dimensions, it might be a matter of time, but still.”

“Dimensions?” Gonzales shot another askance look.

“A sparkly and sparky monster, don’t ask,” Coulson sighed. “It was a mess. Glad that it is over. Do we have accord?”

“Yes,” Gonzales nodded, and shook the other man’s hand. “But you probably need to make peace with Hand too.”

“Will do that, agent.”

End


End file.
